Chapter 57: Arc Two. Chapter Fifty-Seven. Grounded

Liv wished she could turn her phone off, but a warning from Harry and Norman had stopped her. She was to remain in contact at all times and god forbid one of them actually did something on their own, the thought was very close to disobedience and she corrected herself. She had been given free rein to catch Venom and looking around the room, she was going to just that.

Electro, poor Max Dillon, was spread eagle on a pylon, power coursing from him and into the generator. Its four huge mechanical pylons standing like clawed fingers, a testament to her brilliance. She had interned under the Parkers, mainly in genetics and biosciences but once Norman had shut the project down she switched majors, moving to mechanical and electrical engineering, and finally onto nuclear physics. 

Her genius-level IQ just shifted gears and once she had built the basic Goblin suit, she moved onto its power core. A small but powerful nuclear fission reactor, the Arcstar. Of course, she’d had help with that one, the proud but sadly dead Howard Stark had created the Arc reactor and offered it free to anyone who could shrink the design, and she had. She made enough changes that it was patented in her name and if she was ever free of the damn Osborns she could sit happily on the money it would earn her.

As expected, as well as her life, Norman had stolen all her work, barring this. It was experimental at the time and he wanted working prototypes, he misspoke words allowing her some semblance of freedom. Especially after the wonderful gift he had given her. The harness, her first prototype gripped her like a vice. She had to watch her weight as its claps were fused shut, she had a pressure sores beneath her breasts and along her spine where the heavy mechanical contraption slowly corroded with her sweat. She cleaned as best she could but she knew the unpleasant odour kept the more inquisitive away from her. She wasn't allowed to extend the arms at work, where they could take the heavier weight and her back and ribs ached constantly from the heavy lifting.

Ironically, she had to keep her weight down and could only eat small meals, but the extra calories would be well spent building muscles to carry the damn harness around. No matter, once she finished the reactor and set it to overload then she wouldn't have to worry about that, Venom or Norman ever again, she would be free.

Electro's skin had paled from the energy drain she was putting him through. The formula she dosed him with at first had strengthened his body, it grew bioelectrical channels, he took the name Electro and they had had fun. He revelled in his newfound power and even the mighty Venom fell against his shocks. Pity he was just a battery to her, a power source but it didn't matter, nothing mattered now except her revenge.

Electro stirred as she lowered the output, the initial reaction would generate too much power for the structure to handle right now and if it sparked early then it would explode, taking a small chunk of the harbour with it.

"Please doc, please," Electro begged, the procedure was painful and he didn't look so great.

"Sorry Max, I need you a bit longer, I promise." She extended a hand to touch his face, to comfort him but yelped and pulled it back when he shocked her.

"Fuck you bitch, I'll kill you. I'll kill you," he yelled over and over. Sadly the serum often degraded the mental facilities of its users, especially the experimental ones,

She signed, "such a shame Max. Such. A. Shame." and she walked away, leaving him to his rantings.

The core of her Arcstar reactor was a small fusion pulse generator, now controlled by a chip similar in design to her own harness, and she linked up to it. She could feel the thrumming of the generator, even on standby and its tingle crept through the harness and into her centre. She giggled as she bit her lip, once it started then she would really feel that thrust. Opening the case they had taken from the vault she carefully slotted the new chip into the side of a panel, closing it and clasping it shut tightly, the led lights on the control board all began to flicker on, one by one, red at first and then slowly as the board filled, they changed over to green.

The main generator, powered by Electro, was fully operational and once she dropped the heavy utonium into the reactor chamber the miniature star would spark into life. Growing slowly at first it needed to be fed with light elements and the heavier ones drained off, like a normal star the heat and size were dependant on the fusion of hydrogen, adding in helium or even carbon would cause the star to burn too quickly and die, even the hydrogen had to be controlled or the reactor would expand and explode prematurely.

While her harness was originally designed as armour, it allowed her to control these reactions, she could manually add or remove elements needed, the AI chip before Osborn hacked it, allowed her harness to read her intentions preemptively, giving her not just two extra sets of hands but two extra sets of eyes and minds as well. If Norman hadn't taken control then she might have even won a Nobel prize in neurology, maybe even two in mechanical engineering. The daydream was nice but the cold crushing reality of the situation brought her back to Earth.

The reactor would take two hours to get to maximum burn before the star would ignite properly, it would then require constant attention for a further hour to stabilise the elemental flow control, after that the reactor should, in theory, run without any outside interference. She just needed three hours, three hours and it would all be over.

Her phone beeped. It was Norman, 

where are you?

At the hideout by the docks, if Sandman is healed, I'll meet him here

She would need him to defend the reactor while she worked, she could promise the cure for his daughter, the same serum that made him a monster could cure her illness. She couldn't remember what it was but the generic serum cured most illnesses, she just had to dangle the carrot in front of him, knowing he would take it.

Across the water, Peter was busy sketching when he felt the thrum go through him and the whole building, a slight ripple in the glass of water next to him. He frowned as he felt something, something in the Earth, this wasn't a quake, whoever heard of a quake in New York and as he took off his shoes and let his bare feet touch the ground he could feel it, a thrumming through the whole area. 

He flicked on the TV to see if any news had been reported and even texted the three girls. They had felt it but had no idea, no injuries and nothing on the news either.

Peter tilted his head, hearing a sound and lying flat on the ground he could hear something along with the vibration, but he had no idea what. Better safe than sorry he used the symbskin to shape a pair of sneakers and locking up the warehouse took a walk outside.

After his talk with Flash, after finding out that the strange alien creature that gave Flash some of Peter's memories he had felt better, not that sharing all his memories with that douchebag was a good thing, but maybe the asshole would now understand the hell he put him through.

Flash warned him a heavy hitter was coming, but also that the blame for John's death was publically on Venom but that Flash and Eddie had been cautioned and charged. The three of them were technically fugitives, Eddie escaping to who knew where and Flash escaping abroad for ‘study.’

As he walked he felt the thrumming weaken and moving, seemingly at random, he guessed the general direction the vibrations as coming from, near the docks on the other side of the water, and as he walked the feeling to stronger and stronger, it was strange, nothing like anything he'd ever felt before. Whatever it was, he knew he should investigate, sending a text to the girls, letting them know.

He filled various punches with small vials made by Gwen, if Ock, or any of her crew were behind this, he wouldn't be going in blind this time.

Something big enough to make the whole ground shake and for him to feel it several miles away wouldn't be good. As the winter chill was still in the air the slush made his walk unpleasant, gritty paths and slushy icy walkways weren't difficult to walk on when you had amazing balance but the feeling under his feet was horrible, made worse by the thin shoes so he could track the vibrations.

The thrumming continued at an even pace, and then began to ramp up, his counting measuring each thrum was getting closer and closer together and Peter knew he had to find what it was before it either stopped and had completed its task, or got worse and caused an actual earthquake.

Peter didn't want to take a cab, he would lose the vibration too easily but swinging across the water into New Jersey wasn't ideal either, he got as far as he could, checking every now and again to make sure the blue and the red stalker wasn't following him. If Spider-Man had the same type of powers as he did then he should have felt the vibrations as well, whether he was going to investigate or not was another matter. Not that he even knew if Spider-man was still in New York, his exploits no longer graced the pages of the Bugle.

Instead, J.J had gone rogue on the three of them. Declared them murderers and had been digging up as much dirt as he could. He’d begun drumming up support for a new set of laws, ones that made being enhanced illegal ‘Human Majority’ he called it, and Peter figured his son's death had broken the man.

Peter took a leisurely jog across the George Washington bridge and as he approached the New Jersey side of the river he felt the vibration increase again, he couldn't pick up his pace though. If he ran at the maximum speed he was pretty sure he's set off a speed camera or two, and anyone seeing a young man running at twenty or thirty miles per hour would probably have him and his face over the internet before he got home. Cursing he switched direction and headed into the industrial section, the vibration was definitely coming from there.

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Liv watched as the reactor flared into life, Sandman was over tending Electro whose normally dark skin was now a pale grey colour. "Uh doc, he ain't lookin so good." He had a cloth and was wiping down the barely conscious man, even the dampness on his skin the only comfort Sandman could give him.

Liv ignored him, right now she was too busy dealing with hydrogen overflow, magnetic field disruptions, and the slowly draining helium in the reactor. "He'll live," she shouted, maybe, she added mentally and through the thick black goggles she diligently worked to keep the reactor under control.

Peter was having no luck, once he got into the warehouse district the vibrations calmed down and merged with the comings and goings of the normal day to day businesses. Heavy freight trucks rumbled down well-worn roads and machinery banged and worked. All of these added and hid the thrum he had felt and seeing no other choice he started walking from building to building. He took out his phone, texting the girls to ask if the vibrations were still felt over in New York and only Felicia could feel them. Gwen, in the Oscorp building, and MJ, in a small diner in the centre of Staten Island, could feel nothing.

He scratched his head, what was causing that thrumming? Was there a way to track it better than just peeking in various windows. If he had some kind of thermal vision like Huntress this would be easier but she was unique amongst the group so far, seemingly the most evolved and whole of the quartet. Of course, he rubbed his forehead, the vibration patterns on the water. Even with the normal tides, the vibrations should be apparent.

Ducking into an alley Peter became Venom and climbed up a wall, leaping from roof to roof until he made it to the water's edge. As the area had been developed the water lapped around the concrete waterfront, bollards with a simple chain between them stopping anyone from falling in. He leapt over the chain and hanging on the side of the wall let his hand dip into the water.

Immediately he felt the vibrations again, stronger this time, amplified by the liquid medium. He only had two ways to go and lifting himself up he scurried along the waterfront, feeling into the water with a hand to make sure he hadn't passed the focal point of the phenomenon.

Soon he arrived at a shady burnt out old warehouse in a darker area of the waterfront, police tape covered the doors and bullet holes covered the frame of the building, both denting the steel inwards and outwards.

If he hadn't fixed up his own place, he imagined this is what it would like by now. He was sure though, he could feel the thrumming, however faint coming from somewhere nearby, even if the building looked abandoned it wasn't and listening while he couldn't hear anyone inside he knew that Ock and the gang had to be here.

Liv lifted her goggles, the reactor had finally achieved fusion and she watched as her tendrils worked without her supervision, collecting and sucking away the helium before it could fuse further and contaminate the reaction, now all she had to do was wait. Just another hour and she would be free of Venom and her pain.

Sandman wiped down Electros face, his breathing was weakening in by the minute and Ock seemed uncaring to his pain, "what you do to him?" he asked, even if he could feel the heat of the reactor he could still take out one little bug.

He'd been in pain for hours as they sprayed him with solvent at Oscorp. The fight with Venom had made him realise that Ock worked her own angle and if he died, she didn't care. He wanted to warn Osborn about her and her plan. He didn't know who Venom was but he promised he'd find out, and Mr Osborn promised to cure his daughter, once and for all.

Liv waved a spare tendril, "he was the spark for my fire, that's all, just a little drained, but he'll be fine, stop nagging, sheesh, fine fine, the vibration from the reactor will draw Venom here, the reactor is powering a good old fashioned laser, you know, pew pew." She pointed to a few emitters hanging from the ceiling. Each one looking like rejects from a science fiction film, Flint had never been a fan of that kind of movie.

"So, you're here to make sure he keeps away from the reactor, I'm here to make sure he gets dead. Calm down Sandman, you'll get your fight and your cure, even if Osborn isn't willing I can get it for you, just stick to the plan." Liv was losing patience with him, he was itching for a fight and it seemed like she was as good a target as any.

"And here is the star of the who now, Come in Come in," her free arms waved at Venom, skulking in the shadows, Sandman's fists clenched as he saw the black-suited monster approach, not even bothering to hide.

"You forgot my invite, Ock, oh Hi Sandy," Venom waved. The warehouse shell was just that, crumbling and unstable, even if he'd hung from the roof it would have creaked and groaned with his weight, so he just walked in, taking time to hear about the space lasers and the inevitable fight with Sandman.

Sandman growled at him while Doc stayed next to the reactor, "now now Venom, behave."

"I know Doc, it's a small fusion reactor. Once I knew your name I researched your life, your focus was in recombinant retrovirals and then fusion reactor before developing the harness strapped to your back, and for the record, you're a lunatic, creating a star, even I'm not that stupid and I live with three women."

"A fuckin star?" Sandman yelled at her, no wonder Max was dying if she drained him to start it up, "I swear, you’re next."

Liv just groaned, "Stop with the macho bullshit, I need to stabilise this. So deal with him."

"Now Now Doc, let's be sensible, I'll deal with the star, you two have a nice nap okay?" Venom motioned to the cot beds Ock and Sandman had used at some point in time,

"Nap? you think I'm gonna nap? I'm gonna kill you," Sandman shook himself and a haze of dust fell from his body.

Venom stood, arms ready in boxers low pose, waiting for Sandman to come at him. Sandman raised his own fists until a white and black figure smashed into him from above, her feet driven through his waist, he shrieked in pain as she flipped in midair and sprayed some kind of acid over him, the sand in his body reacting and breaking down.

Another dark streak swung down from the roof, slamming into Doc and throwing her across the roof into Electro, he roared in pain and grabbing her they sparked and soon, as the strength left him Electro dropped her, her body going limp and smoking rising from the harness as he used the last of his power.

"Oops," Venom said, "forgot I brought my plus one this time."

"Plus two," Huntress replied,

"Way to ruin it. It was a joke." He quipped back. Poison shook her head as the pair began to bicker.

~

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